INDEX 02 Introduction 03 Director Interview 05 The Emiya Household Special Crosstalk 09 Kinoko Nasu & Takashi Takeuchi’s Q&A 14 Commentary Book 25 Mesage from staff to fans 29 Credits Introduction Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] the movie – I. presage flower was released in theatres all over Japan on October 14, 2017. This is a film based on the 2004 TYPE-MOON visual novel game Fate/stay night. The original game had three routes with differing heroines, and [Heaven’s Feel] which features Sakura Matou as the heroine, was the third and final route. Production for this film was done by ufotable, the studio that handled the anime versions of TYPE-MOON titles for over a decade, starting with the seven-part theatrical series Kara no Kyoukai in 2007. Director Tomonori Sudo has been a major player of TYPE-MOON titles from even before Fate/stay night and was a creator who served as the character designer and animation director for the Kara no Kyoukai movies. Sudo, after the 2004 release of Fate/stay night, Fate/stay night [R é alta Nua] and the subsequent release of the fan-disc Fate/hollow ataraxia, he was able to complete [Heaven’s Feel] in a way that can only be drawn at this point in time. This is the first part of trilogy for Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel]. A new story about Shirou Emiya and Sakura Matou begins here. Director Interview Tomonori SUDO (須藤友徳) Director/Character Designer/Chief Animation Director Quote: “I was thinking about how to animate Fate/stay night ever since I first laid my hands on it”. About: Born in Kanagawa, Sudo is an animator and animation director for ufotable. His first title after joining ufotable was Dokkoida?! Known as a TYPE- MOON (TM) fan from their doujin days, Sudo was the character designer and animation director for the Kara no Kyoukai films. He can recreate Takashi Takeuchi’s character concepts. Sudo debuted as storyboarder and episode director in Episode 5 of Fate/Zero. His directorial debut was Kara no Kyoukai: Mirai Fukuin. Theme 1: Coming across TYPE-MOON titles Q: The announcement for the film adaption of Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] (hereafter noted as [HF]) was announced during the “Fate Project Newest Information Disclosure” in 2014. It has been roughly three years since. When did you start feeling that the first chapter was getting complete? Sudo: A premier showing for the industry was planned for Machi Asobi Vol.19 (magazine) in Tokushima Prefecture (October 7th, 2017) so we finished the film with that date in mind. I believe it was when the domestic release date came and went without issues was when I felt the first chapter was completed. Q: What were days like during the three years of production? Sudo: I basically focused on what title I was in charge of at that time. For example, when I was working on Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works],I gave it everything as an animation director. However, in the back of my mind, I had been thinking of [HF]. It was something I had been thinking about after I had bought the original Fate/stay night game. Occasionally, when I thought about [HF], images popped up inside my head. It felt like I was banking all of those, bit by bit. Q: I heard that you have been playing TYPE-MOON titles even before Fate/stay night. How were you introduced to the TYPE-MOON titles? Sudo: I first found out about them on the Internet. Back then, there were no illustration portal websites like there are now, so everyone looked at the personal websites of artists you liked. While doing so, I had the opportunity to come across illustration of characters that were especially charming. As I was looking at them, I thought, “Who is the boy with the glasses? Who is this blonde girl?” I learned I could purchase the original title where those characters make an apperance at a game shop in Akihabara. That was how I got my hands on Tsukihime, and that was how I came across TYPE-MOON titles. I finished every route and played the fan disc Kagetsu Tohya too. I am not that good at fighting games, but I finished MELTY BLOOD as well. Theme 2: What has been inherited from the directorial debut piece to the present Q: What part of the original Fate/stay night game did you find interesting? Sudo: The music, art and the world... I felt everything was interesting. Nasu’s titles such as Tsukihime, Fate/stay night, and DDD all have plot developments where a human living in urban areas come across something phantasmal that existed in the underside of society. I was a fan of fantastical works of that nature. Q: You became seriously involved with TYPE-MOON titles from the film series Kara no Kyoukai. Can you tell us a bit about Mirai Fukuin which you were the director for? Sudo: I received an offer from our president (producer Hikari Kondo) on whether I wanted to “try out being a director.” However, I had no experience directing before, so I requested to be a director for a TV series before I work on Mirai Fukuin. That is how I got to work on 凶獣咆吼 (The Vicious Beast’s Roars). Q: Are there any parts of your directorial experience from Mirai Fukuin? Sudo: The biggest part, I think, is “how I think as a director”. After my first directorial piece, I felt that it was difficult to relay your intentions to other people, and I learned just how profound directing was. Therefore, I think about being able to properly explain my intentions I have for each scene. I want to become better at controlling “time” and “momentum“ so that the audience can frther enjoy it as a movie. Theme 3: The meaning and changes involved in making Fate/stay night now Q: In making the movies for [HF], did you go back and play the original Fate/stay night game or Fate/stay night [Réalta Nua]? Sudo: I did. I played every element of [Réalta Nua] that had changed in the PC version for verification. During the production of [HF], I tried to weigh in the impressions I had back when I played the original. I revived the original text script from TYPE-MOON as production reference material, but when I was reading parts of the script, I sometimes got a feeling that was different from when I was playing the original. When I analysed this phenomenon, I believed I felt like that because the Fate universe had expanded in the dozen on so years, and all of that are part of my memories. Q: Which means, the impressions you had when you played the original game are tied in with your current feelings. Sudo: In animating [HF], I read the original text and imagined how the characters were feeling and thinking in that scene as I organized the visual image. I combined my impressions I had back then with the impressions I have now, all the while keeping in mind to make it enjoyable for the audience. Q: This piece not only portrayed the original game, but also had elements from the subsequent fan-disc Fate/hollow ataraxia. Sudo: Fate/stay night was released in 2004 and has compiled its world view and characters’ natures in the dozen or so years that followed. I feel that [HF] was an anime film that was created after all those years had have passed. If [HF] was an anime back in 2004, I believe each character would have been presented in a different light. In return, I believe if [HF] were to be created 10 years from now, it would also be drawn differently than the present. Q: Saber Alter making an appearance at the end of Chapter 1 was a surprise. Sudo: Black Saber (Saber Alter) is a character from the Fate/stay night timeline, differing from Fate/hollow ataraxia and beyond. She is drawn merely as another side of Saber. It’s like your other self staring at you. I don’t think this particular setup is something I would have thought of a dozen or so years ago. Q: How was the production scene at ufotable this time around? Sudo: I feel like I was able to work in a wonderful environment. For instance, the art director (Koji Eto), offered his ideas one after another, so that was very helpful. I had given very abstract requests like, “make it a feeling like dry air” or “high skies in winter”, but he manifest them into art, and I am very grateful for that. Also, the director of photography (Yuichi Terao) and the 3D director (Kazuki Nishiwaki) were able to express things that could not be done by CG such as “a tran sport truck tearing down into pieces after colliding into a motorway wall. ” And for this piece, the color designs and the finishers really put into a lot of effort. There are scenes where a single cut showed time elapsing, and so having them create character shading – depending on the season, time, and even whether or not there is there is lightning – was really good for a theatrical piece. Q: Lastly, please tell us what you got out of Chapter 1, and what you aspire to do in Chapter 2? Sudo: There were parts of Chapter 1 that I felt had some trial and error, but I was glad that we were able to draw a peaceful everyday life in the prologue.